Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
This is the case for both academic and industry studies and would greatly contribute to increasing
the general understanding of market segmentation and enable users to assess its quality and
managerial usefulness.
Many areas of market segmentation which are highly relevant to its correct use by both
academics and industry require further research, for example: sample size requirements for market
segmentation studies need to be determined, recommendations for data collection should be
developed, which ensure that data of the most suitable nature for subsequent market segmentation
analysis is collected. In addition, approaches are required which will enable data analysts to segment
respondents based on typical ordinal survey data (data resulting from the popular Likert scale) while
avoiding bias through response styles, and ways of assessing which of the resulting segments or
which combination of resulting segments should be selected as a target segment.
In terms of the practical application of market segmentation in the tourism industry: it is still
surprisingly simple. Most national tourism organizations still use basic commonsense approaches,
such as using country of origin of tourists as the splitting criterion. There is nothing wrong with
this approach. More complicated approaches are not necessarily the best. On the other hand,
having used a simple commonsense segmentation for decades does not necessarily mean that it
is the most promising segmentation strategy today. Tourism managers should continuously
monitor possibilities for interesting segmentation analysis, after all they are exploratory. And,
maybe most importantly: tourism managers should never let a data analyst produce a segmentation
solution, just like data analysts should never run a segmentation analysis if the user refuses to be
involved in every step of the process. The best segmentation solutions results from a team
approach where tourism manager and data analyst work together from day one. Day one is not
the day the data analysis starts, rather it is the day the tourism organization decides to undertake
a segmentation study, well before the collection of data. An integrated team approach starting
before data collection and ending with the joint interpretation of segment is not currently the
most common approach to market segmentation in tourism, but it is the most promising
approach which prevents any theory-practice divide from occurring, trains the data analyst to
understand the key aims of the user and trains the tourism manager to understand what actually
happens when data is segmented, thus allowing managers to have a more realistic assessment of
what implications can be drawn from segmentation solutions for marketing strategy and, equally
importantly, what implications cannot be drawn.
References
Arimond, G. and Lethlean, S. (1996) 'Profi t Center Analysis within Private Campgrounds', Journal of Travel
Research , 34: 52-8.
Bieger, T. and Laesser, C. (2002) 'Market Segmentation by Motivation: The Case of Switzerland', Journal of
Travel Research , 41: 68-76.
Buchta, C., Dimitriadou, E., Dolnicar, S., Leisch, F. and Weingessel, A. (1997) A Comparison of Several Cluster
Algorithms on Artifi cial Binary Data Scenarios from Travel Market Segmentation , Working Paper # 7. Vienna:
Centre of Excellence Adaptive Information Systems and Modelling in Economics and Management
Science.
Cronbach, L.J. (1950) 'Further Evidence on Response Sets and Test Design', Educational and Psychological
Measurement , 10(1): 3-31.
Denison, T. and McDonald, M.H.B. (1995) 'The Role of Marketing Past, Present and Future', Journal of
Marketing Practice , 1(1), Spring: 54-76.
Dibb, S. (2005) 'Market Segmentation Implementation Barriers and How to Overcome Them', The
Marketing Review , 5: 13-30.
Dodd, T. and Bigotte, V. (1997) 'Perceptual Differences among Visitor Groups to Wineries', Journal of Travel
Research , 35: 46-51.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search